The future of educating our children is all about....

Mosaic of Needlefelted Alphabet ATCs and ACEOs - Tactile Art and Learning for Children, originally uploaded by Pictures by Ann.

You know the answer ... technology.

My love for technology and the internet started on one simple fine day when I was in the library at my high school which was an old english military school and quite behind the times. But after not finding a book I needed the librarian changed my like and showed me 'askjeeves' which it was known as back in the day..... it made me get through high school. When I started in the media world in the late 90's I quickly gained cred from the head of research of a media agency I worked in. He stood up in front of the whole agency and said Mike has shown me the future of everything. Big call I didnt get at the time... I just thought it was the lazy man's option for getting information (and still do). My motivation for being all over technology is now coming to fruition, as its importance in marketing has never been so prevelant. But what about the truth behind the early days..... my education.

The greatest thing I have ever seen from a group of advertising people was by the ever known aussie David Drogas...... Droga5. Who were briefed by the NY schools commission to get kids to school more but also more motivated. So they created the million project which are how many school kids are in NY. (click thru casestudies and then click on million). It took a problem in schools which was kids use of mobile phones and turned it on its head... using it as a key motivational tool but also a tool to learn. BRILLIANT

We are now seeing more and more technology integrating into schooling. What sparked my views on this, was an article showing how twitter and wikipedia will be used in the classrooms. Although I love this idea and it will be important for that age group to be fluent in these tools. I would love to see them use it to gain knowledge on history, on maths, on science.... if you ask me its using it to disemniate information faster. Thats why I love it all. Its not just about knowing how to use it... because I have a feeling the playfulness of kids will figure it out anyway... once their buddies talk about it enough. Where it gets interesting is when teachers use it as a way to connect and motivate kids to learn more on what might be deemed a boring subject. The amount of information a kid of today might take in is huge even since I left.... the key will be how do schools adjust to convert all this information they take in... to true knowledge.

Go children of the future